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Help with board blowing on Sears Kenmore Elite 40" Range Model#790-996
This problem goes way back. This is the most expensive stove that we have ever purchased by far that I bought for my wife. It all started back a few years ago. First the bake element went out. I said no problem, I have had to replace many elements in the last 50 years of owning stoves. I went down to the local parts house & they asked me if I wanted the generic element or the Kenmore element. They said the Kenmore element was about $65.00 (that is by far the most expensive element too). They said the generic was just as good & only $40. I went with generic, installed it, & all went well for about 30 days. Then, suddenly the stove caught on fire. It hade melted the wire going to the element connection & blew the board. We called Sears out. Pardon me, but we were not thrilled with their service. They could not tell us what happened & why. They just wanted to start replacing parts starting with the element (their charge was higher than the parts house even), wiring harness, & board. This is an expensive oven & was only a few years old, but slightly out of warranty at the time & the board alone was nearly $500.00 plus labor. They really had no idea what caused it all though & could not guaranty that it would be repaired. I then found a company that said they could repair the board, make it better than new, plus troubleshoot the root cause for about half. I packed it up & sent it away. I also checked the element, repaired the wires & connections very well, etc. & all seemed well & they repaired the board. We also called a different recommended local repair company out to check everything out before turning it all on again. This guy just ranted about repairing boards being bad & that he could get us a new board for $200 & charged us $100 to repair. However, after he checked everything out & said if it blew now, it was just a bad board, the stove caught on fire & blew again. So, I said let’s move forward & get this new board. He said he would get it ordered & that is basically the last we heard of him. We even told the parts house about him & they said they would talk to him, to no avail. So, we called out another local repair shop, but this time we thought we would try a franchise to see if we could get better luck, actually two of them. They both claimed they could fix anything, but then when we gave them the model number & all, neither one ever showed. So, I contacted the board repair company again who stood by everything they said & offered to check it out & if it could still be rebuilt, do it at no charge, based on what we told them about the sad repairmen. They reiterated that there was a problem with the bake element circuit. They were also able to repair it again. They also said that we should really take care to find another repairman before turning it on again. We also hade the parts house double check the new element & they said “it was highly unlikely that the element caused it”, not impossible, but highly unlikely. They basically did the same thing I did, but with an analog instrument instead of digital (yes, I really like those better too). Unfortunately we have been unable to find a qualified local repairman or lady & there are not that many anyways. Of note, we actually have the oven on, just the large oven bake circuit wires disconnected. The stove top works fine. The small oven works fine, the clock & everything else about the board & display works fine. We are just afraid to turn it back on until someone can identify exactly what it is that is blowing this board. Since we are unable to find a real repair man from Sears to very small & everything in between. I am going to have to do it some how. Can anyone please help? I hope I did not leave anything out.
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